This happened to me a couple of years ago and reading the recent post about a bank error stating that someone's mortage was paid in full - I just thought I would share my story.
A couple of years ago I received a large envelope in my mail box - it was about an inch thick and had no return address.
I opend the envalope and it was stuffed with a stack of about 200 stock certificates - all made out to me with my full name and address. I had never heard of the company and after searching, I could find nothing.
I showed them to a friend of mine (who was a stock broker) and he could not find anything about the company and told me that the certificates were for some private company - although neither of us could find anything on this company. My friend told me that it was probably a disolved company and the certificates were basically worthless. Why they came to me was a mystery.
I put them in a drawer and within a few months, I had completely forgotten about them. Anyway, about 6 months later I got a phone call from a local broker in town and the woman on the phone asked me if I had received a package with stock certificates.
I answered yes. She proceeded to rip me a new but hole for not reporting this to her - even though the package came to me with no return address. She basically accused me of stealing and told me that I should have tried harder to locate the "rightful" owner. She implied that I had committed a crime and that I needed to bring them to her office right that instant.
Of course her attitude really pissed me off. I told her I would bring them to her office and then I proceeded to watch tv. On the following Friday afternoon (a couple of days later) I brought them to her office where they took them and said absolutely nothing - I went home.
I guess this held up her commission and it was my fault for sending endorsed stock certificates via US Mail with no return address or tracking. And, I happened to have the same name. Geeze, she's lucky I didn't shred them with the rest of my junk mail.
